Who among the following has won the women's single title in the Syed Modi International Tournament held in January 2022 ?
- (a)Jwala Gutta
- (b)P. V. Sindhu
- (c)Ashwini Ponappa
- (d)Saina Nehwal
Correct — B, P. V. Sindhu. At the 2022 Syed Modi International, played from 18 to 23 January 2022 at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium in Lucknow, Sindhu won the women's singles title by beating her compatriot Malvika Bansod in the final, 21–13, 21–16. It was Sindhu's second title at this tournament, after 2017; she has since won it a third time, in 2024. The 2022 edition was a BWF World Tour Super 300 event and is remembered for something unprecedented as well: the men's singles title was not awarded at all, because both finalists — both from France — tested positive for COVID-19 before the final could be played. For a Uttar Pradesh paper the venue matters as much as the winner: this is Lucknow's own international badminton tournament, run by the Uttar Pradesh Badminton Association.
- (a)Jwala Gutta — Jwala Gutta is a doubles player, not a singles player. Her international record is in women's doubles — most famously with Ashwini Ponnappa — and in mixed doubles, and she was no longer on the competitive international circuit by 2022. She could not have won a women's SINGLES title at this or any other tournament.
- (c)Ashwini Ponappa — Ashwini Ponnappa is likewise a doubles specialist. Her best-known results — the Commonwealth Games women's doubles gold in 2010 and a World Championships bronze in 2011 — both came in partnership with Jwala Gutta. Placing the two of them on the same option list is the examiner's way of testing whether a candidate knows the difference between India's doubles pair and its singles players; neither is a singles title contender.
- (d)Saina Nehwal — The genuinely dangerous distractor, because Saina Nehwal really has won this exact tournament — three times, in 2009, 2014 and 2015. She is a singles player of the first rank, an Olympic bronze medallist and a former world number one. But she did not win the 2022 edition; Sindhu did. This is why a current-affairs question must be answered for the year it names and not from a general memory of who usually wins.
The Syed Modi International is India's long-running international badminton tournament, inaugurated by the Uttar Pradesh Badminton Association in 1991 as a memorial event for Syed Modi, a Commonwealth Games champion. It is normally staged at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium in Lucknow, and by 2022 it sat on the BWF World Tour as a Super 300 event — the tier below the Super 500 and Super 750 tournaments, which makes it a realistic title for strong Indian players. Its women's singles roll of honour is dominated by India's two great singles players: Saina Nehwal took it in 2009, 2014 and 2015, and P. V. Sindhu in 2017, 2022 and 2024, with international champions such as Ratchanok Intanon, Carolina Marín and Nozomi Okuhara winning in other years.
Two habits get this right. The first is to sort Indian badminton players by discipline before anything else: Sindhu and Saina are singles, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa are doubles. Half the option list is eliminated by that single distinction, without knowing anything about January 2022. The second is to attach a year to every result. Both remaining names have won this tournament, so the question is not 'who wins the Syed Modi' but 'who won it in 2022' — and current-affairs marks are lost far more often to a right name in the wrong year than to a name never heard of. For a UPPSC candidate there is a third reason to know this event: it is held in Lucknow, and the commission has a standing interest in sporting events staged in Uttar Pradesh.
- P. V. Sindhu won the women's singles at the 2022 Syed Modi International, beating Malvika Bansod 21–13, 21–16 in the final.
- The 2022 edition ran from 18 to 23 January 2022 at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium, Lucknow, as a BWF World Tour Super 300 event.
- The men's singles title in 2022 was not awarded — both finalists, both French, contracted COVID-19 before the final.
- The tournament was started in 1991 by the Uttar Pradesh Badminton Association in memory of Syed Modi, a Commonwealth Games champion.
- Women's singles winners include Saina Nehwal (2009, 2014, 2015) and P. V. Sindhu (2017, 2022, 2024); Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa are doubles specialists.
- Ignoring the discipline. Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa are doubles players; a women's SINGLES title cannot belong to either of them.
- Answering from general reputation instead of the stated year. Saina Nehwal has won the Syed Modi International three times, but not in 2022 — the year in the stem is the whole question.
- Forgetting that this is a Lucknow tournament. UPPSC often builds sports questions around events held in Uttar Pradesh, so venue and organiser are as examinable as the winner.
UPPSC asks sports current affairs in two shapes — 'who won X in month/year' and 'which player–medal pair is NOT correctly matched' — and it draws heavily on events held in Uttar Pradesh, as with this Lucknow tournament. It asked about P. V. Sindhu directly in 2019 and about the Tokyo Olympics medal table in 2021. UPSC uses the same 'who won the title' construction but for world-level championships. The reliable preparation is a one-page table for the twelve months before the exam: event, month, venue, winner, runner-up.
Who among the following won the men’s singles title at the World Badminton Championship in the year 2001?
- (a) Gopichand
- (b) Hendrawan
- (c) Ji Xin Peng
- (d) Peter Gade
Answer(b) Hendrawan
The same question in the same sport twenty years earlier — a named badminton title in a named year, with an Indian favourite planted among the options to catch the patriotic guess. Both papers reward a dated results table rather than a general sense of who is good.
Whom did P.V. Sindhu beat to win the first ever Gold Medal for India in Women's Single Badminton Championship in the final match ?
- (a) Carolina Marin
- (b) Tai Tzu Ying
- (c) Nozomi Okuhara
- (d) None of these
Answer(c) Nozomi Okuhara
The same commission, the same player, three years earlier — and it goes one step further by asking for the beaten finalist. Between the two questions UPPSC has asked for Sindhu's opponent in one final and Sindhu herself as the winner of another, which is a strong hint to store finals as winner-and-runner-up pairs.
Which one of the following is NOT correctly matched ? (Name of Player) — (Medal Won in Tokyo Olympic 2020)
- (a) P. V. Sindhu — Bronze Medal
- (b) Bajrang Punia — Silver Medal
- (c) Mirabai Chanu — Silver Medal
- (d) Neeraj Chopra — Gold Medal
Answer(b) Bajrang Punia — Silver Medal
UPPSC's other favourite sports format — player against result — and Sindhu appears in it too. Taken with the 2022 and 2019 items it shows the commission returns to the same small set of Indian sportspersons year after year, so their full result list is worth learning once.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Syed Modi International badminton tournament is regularly held in which city ?
- (a)Lucknow
- (b)Varanasi
- (c)Kanpur
- (d)Prayagraj
Answer(a) Lucknow — it is staged at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium in Lucknow and was started by the Uttar Pradesh Badminton Association in 1991 in memory of Syed Modi.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following pairs of an Indian badminton player and her Olympic medal is correctly matched ?
- (a)Saina Nehwal — Silver medal, London 2012
- (b)P. V. Sindhu — Silver medal, Rio 2016
- (c)Ashwini Ponnappa — Bronze medal, Tokyo 2020
- (d)Jwala Gutta — Bronze medal, London 2012
Answer(b) P. V. Sindhu — Silver medal, Rio 2016. Sindhu took silver at Rio 2016 and bronze at Tokyo 2020. Saina Nehwal's London 2012 medal was a bronze, not a silver, and neither Ashwini Ponnappa nor Jwala Gutta has won an Olympic medal.